The North Carolina swimming and diving team kicked off its 2020-2021 season on Friday and Saturday with a dual-meet at home against N.C. State. Both the No. 18 women’s team and the No. 24 men's team fell to N.C. State, ending the night with scores of 224-167 and 212.5-201.5, respectively.
What Happened
The North Carolina swimming teams put up a fight against the N.C. State men and women — both of which are both ranked in the top 10 — but ultimately fell short. The women’s team racked up several first and second place wins in various events, with impressive performances from juniors Grace Countie and Sophie Lindner.
Lindner won second-place in multiple events, including the women’s 50-yard backstroke with a time of 25.40 seconds, racking up points for the Tar Heels. Countie also had an impressive performance, winning two second-place awards and one first place award in the women’s 150-yard freestyle.
The men’s team was off to a great start after the men’s 200-yard medley relay. UNC’s relay team — which includes Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Boyd Poelke and Tyler Hill — won first place in the opening swimming event of the meet.
“The men’s medley relay established our presence,” UNC head coach Mark Gangloff said. “When you kick a meet off like that it means a lot to the team.”
UNC also went on to win the second men’s relay, led by senior Eli Coan and followed up by Tyler Hill and Daniel Koenigsperger. Tomas Sungaila finished the relay with a time of 1:21.51, winning 11 last points for UNC and bringing its final score to 201.5.
Junior diver Emily Grund won first place in both diving events, the 1-meter and 3-meter, winning 18 points for UNC.
The UNC men’s diving team took first and second place in both of their events. Junior Anton Down-Jenkins and sophomore Alex Hart won a combined 26 points for the Tar Heels in their respective events.